Thursday, September 29, 2011

DIY Easy Succulent Centerpiece

The succulents we rearranged and transplanted a few months back are doing great.  They really love their home on the front porch and are thriving so much.  I had guests over the weekend and I wanted a centerpiece to fill my living room coffee table but didn't want to spend the time or money to drive out to the store.  And while floral arrangements are easy and pretty, I wanted and needed to save money.  So I dug out this old Nambe tray we've had for over 12 years now, a wedding present from an Aunt, and whipped together this cute little succulent centerpiece.

Now when I see DIY/craft bloggers say they just "whipped" something up, and it's as Rachel says, "a chair made out of toothpicks and washi tape", I do roll my eyes.  But this is really easy, and cheap!  That is if you have some succulents on hand already.  So please no eye rolling :)  Let me show you...
First gather your supplies; you'll need a tray of some sort, some regular dirt/potting soil, floral moss found at any craft store, a few succulents and some small pebbles (those are optional).
Spread a thin layer of your soil onto your tray, don't worry succulents don't need much to root 
 Start spreading your moss over the dirt, it doesn't have to be perfect by any means
 and start planting/arranging your succulents in the soil
 it's best to leave a little bit of stem on your succulent as seen below
 once your succulents are all arranged, you can leave them as is, or...
 you can arrange some pebbles/stones in a patter around the tray
 give them just a bit of water, and only water as needed, about once every 7-10 days - don't over-water!
 and you're done!
If you'd like some tips on planting, growing and maintaining succulents, you can visit my previous post on growing a succulent garden here.  I'm not sure how widely available succulents are across the country, or even how popular they are, but here on the West Coast they're all over the place.  Even Trader Joe's carries them and you can pick up little pots for as cheap as 99 cents each.  
If treated right, succulents will just keep growing for years and can be cut off and transferred to other pots to start new shoots.  Plant one in a cute pot and cover the soil with moss and you have a great little hostess gift that's thoughtful and homegrown.  Can you tell I really, really love succulents?    
So are succulents just a Western US thing, or are they loved all across the country?
I'm linking up with Gussy for the very first time hooray!
Gussy Sews Inspiration Workshop!

7 comments:

  1. i just made one of these last week. i live in ca. could be a western thing!

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  2. I live in NYC and L-O-V-E this, perfect for NY'ers, easy, small, doesn't require land or much attention. Love it!

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  3. I love this idea! I need to make a couple of these for my outdoor dinning room table. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Oh, this is so cute! It makes me want to run out to the store right now!

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  5. Love this Andrea! Yayee for plants that are hard to kill! We need to redo our yard so bad. I'm a bit jealie :P

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  6. WHAT??? how awesome are you??? :] i loved your post and now i have an itch to make ANOTHER succulent "terrarium" -- goodness! thanks for linking up, too! xoxo

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